Panel Borders: Art and Anarchy in the British Library

Art and Anarchy in the British Library: Continuing a month of episodes looking at the connections between comics and literature, Alex Fitch talks to Adrian Edwards, co-curator of the exhibition Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK which is on display at the British Library until August 19th, in a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County in Brighton. Adrian discusses how he helped put together the exhibition – which looks at over one hundred years of British comics – with co-curators Paul Gravett and John Dunning, the marketing of the show and some of the more controversial items on display in the library from Aleister Crowley’s Tarot Cards to examples of comic book erotica. Recorded at Cartoon County, June 2014. (Originally broadcast 14th June 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

For more info and a variety of different formats you can stream or download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

To accompany the final days of the Comics Unmasked exhibition at the British Library, this year’s Comica Festival is hosting events on the weekend of August 16th and 17th.

Bryan Lee O’Malley, creator of Scott Pilgrim, is interviewed on Friday August 15th at 6.30pm and signs copies of his wildly anticipated new graphic novel, Seconds

On Saturday August 16th, from 11am to 5pm, Comica Comiket, independent comics fair, will take over the vast public foyer areas of The British Library

COMICA Conversations take place on Sun 17 August 2014 from 11.00 – 18.30 in British Library Conference Centre

Leading comic artists Pat Mills, Alys Jones, Emmanuel Guibert, Matilda Tristram and Ian Williams discuss themes such as censorship and erotica, the Great War in graphic novels, and the challenges of biography and autobiography in comics form. Each event is ticketed and is followed by a book signing.

New London based publisher Breakdown Press are organising their first comic book festival on Saturday August 30th at ‘Protein’, 31 New Inn Yard in East London. Celebrating New Waves in contemporary Comics and Art, the festival welcomes creators and publishers Connor Willumsen, Ditto Press, Eleni Kalorkoti, Esther McManus, Faye Coral Johnson, James Jarvis, Matt Swan, Mike Redmond, Museums Press/Good Press, Susumu Mukai, Jack Teague, Babak Gangei, Lando, Sina Sparrow, Will Sweeney and many more to Shoreditch.

Canadian artist Connor Williamsen will be launching his new comic Treasure Island 2 and the festival is an opportunity for a curated group of cartoonists and publishers to exhibit and sell their artwork, prints and, primarily, comics, and for attendees to experience the best of UK comics’ avant-garde.

Patreon is a crowd funding site that allows fans of artists and writers to fund their new projects one page at a time. Two notable comic projects are currently on Patreon:

Muscle Memory by Al Davison – probably best known for the graphic memoir THE SPIRAL CAGE, which explored his experiences growing up with Spina-Bifida, a condition Al was born with and wasn’t expected to survive. MUSCLE MEMORY: A survivors tale, is even more of a challenge than the first volume, as it not only continues to look at disability issues, but also addresses experiences of physical child abuse. This is not a story of victimization, but a story of survival and of winning against the odds.

Breaks by Emma Vieceli and Malin Ryder – Everyone wears a mask. What we see of people on the surface is so rarely what’s ticking underneath. And, in Cortland Hunt’s case, what he’s hiding might just be more than Ian Tanner is prepared for. BREAKS is the story of two young adults coming to terms with who they were, who they are and who they’ll become.